Vince Wilfork’s statistics don’t tell his story

Saturday

Dec 1, 2012 at 6:00 AM

Throughout his nine seasons in the NFL, Vince Wilfork’s motto has been the same. “Winning is everything to me,” the Patriots’ defensive tackle reiterated this week. “My goal will always be to do what I do best and to do what I can to help this ball club win.”

By Jennifer Toland TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Throughout his nine seasons in the NFL, Vince Wilfork’s motto has been the same.

“Winning is everything to me,” the Patriots’ defensive tackle reiterated this week. “My goal will always be to do what I do best and to do what I can to help this ball club win.”

Wilfork has certainly played a key role in the five-game winning streak the Patriots take into tomorrow’s game against the Dolphins at Sun Life Stadium.

Wilfork was a force in the Patriots’ last game — the Thanksgiving night humiliation of the Jets — though you wouldn’t know it by looking at the stat sheet.

Three total tackles isn’t overly impressive.

But Wilfork was a presence in the middle of the defense, dealing with double teams and making perhaps his signature play of the season when he pushed guard Brandon Moore into quarterback Mark Sanchez, causing a fumble that Steve Gregory recovered and returned for a touchdown.

“He’s got his natural leverage, you could say,” Patriots defensive end Rob Ninkovich said of his 325-pound teammate, “his natural ability to push people around through his weight and his size.”

Wilfork’s strip sack of Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and his pressuring of Colts QB Andrew Luck that resulted in cornerback Aqib Talib’s first interception for the Patriots have been some of the other highlights of an otherwise statistically quiet season for Wilfork. With 39 tackles, he is on pace for a career low in that category.

“Sometimes I don’t make plays, sometimes I make a lot of plays,” Wilfork said. “My thing is to be the best I can for my teammates, whether that’s making one tackle or 10 tackles.

“My main goal is to win, and if we’re winning and I’m playing well with zero stats, I’m fine with that. I’m not a selfish player. I love guys making plays. I love making plays, but sometimes it doesn’t happen like that so it is what it is when it comes to that.”

The Patriots run defense, which Wilfork is a big part of, still ranks in the top 10, though the last two opponents (Jets 4.1 average, Colts 5.0 average) had more success than previous foes.

New England will have to contend with Reggie Bush & Co. tomorrow. The Dolphins are coming off one of their best rushing performances of the season in last week’s win over the Seahawks.

“We have to not let them get the running game going,” Ninkovich said. “If they can run the ball, that sets up play action and those deep balls. You’ve got to try to take away the run game first.”

Wilfork will match up against talented young center Mike Pouncey.

“When you talk about the structure of (the Patriots’ defense), you want to be strong through the middle and they are,” Dolphins offensive coordinator Mike Sherman said. “(Wilfork’s) at the center point of just about everything that happens. You have to be able to block him to have any success around the football. I mean, he is a man amongst boys out there a lot of times and really controls the line of scrimmage for them.”

The Patriots have come up with 18 fumbles this season, and Ninkovich has been involved in a bunch of them. He shares the team lead for forced fumbles (five) with linebacker Brandon Spikes, and Ninkovich has recovered a team-best four.

Ninkovich never forgot what his coach at Lincoln-Way Central High School in New Lenox, Ill., taught him about going for loose balls.

“It just comes down to basic fundamentals of how to get a ball,” Ninkovich said. “Some guys bend over and kick it a few times or kick it out of bounds. I was always taught when you see the ball to fall on it, not land on it because that’s when it squirts out. Kind of turn and cradle it. That’s something I learned when I was a freshman in high school.”

The Patriots have 32 takeaways overall. The team record is 50 set in 1976.

With Jermaine Cunningham beginning his four-game suspension, Chandler Jones injured and declared out for tomorrow and a bit of a shakeup at right end, Ninkovich doesn’t see his role on the left side changing much, though “I definitely need to make some more plays,” he said.

Trevor Scott and rookie Justin Francis will likely be in the rotation with Cunningham and Jones out.

The 6-foot-4, 270-pound Francis went undrafted out of Rutgers. He’s played in five games and recorded two tackles and two quarterback hits along with a couple of special teams tackles.

“He kind of reminds me of myself when I was a rookie,” said Ninkovich, who began his career with the Saints. “He’s a high-motor guy, has a lot of energy and you can see it in practice. He’s going 100 percent every play. I like the way he plays out there. I know he’s going to be around the ball. He’s got some good pass-rush skills and some weight behind him to stop the run, so I think he’s got some skills that are going to help him.”

Tight end Aaron Hernandez returned to action against the Jets after missing the three previous games due to an ankle injury. He had two catches for 36 yards in the 49-19 win.

With 10 days between that game and tomorrow’s against the Dolphins, Hernandez got some additional time to heal.

“Every extra day helps,” he said. “I’m just happy to be back and be part of the team and help us get some plays to help us win, but I’m just happy to be back.”

In addition to Jones, left guard Logan Mankins and tight end Rob Gronkowski were also ruled out for tomorrow.

Fifteen players are listed as questionable, including offensive linemen Dan Connolly and Sebastian Vollmer, who both missed Wednesday’s practice, but participated on a limited basis the last two days.

High school football takes over Gillette Stadium today with six Super Bowl games, including the Central Mass. Division 2 battle between Nashoba and Shepherd Hill at 11 a.m. … In addition to Dolphins coach Joe Philbin and coordinators Mike Sherman and Kevin Coyle, Miami assistant special teams coach Dave Fipp and assistant strength and conditioning coach Dave Puloka also have Central Mass., or more specifically, Holy Cross ties. Fipp coached at HC from 1998-99, and Puloka was a Crusaders linebacker from 1997-2000.